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Merwick-Stanworth redevelopment will begin in spring

by The Office of Communications

Feb. 11, 2013 4 p.m.

Princeton University will begin to redevelop the Merwick-Stanworth property in the spring, following the Princeton Regional Planning Board's approval of site plans this past fall. The site north of campus along Route 206/Bayard Lane will become a residential community for University faculty, staff and their families.

American Campus Communities (ACC) of Texas will oversee development of the project on behalf of the University, working with design architect Torti Gallas and Partners of Maryland. ACC, one of the largest developers of university housing communities in the country, also is working with Princeton on the Lakeside Graduate Housing project located south of Faculty Road.

The Merwick-Stanworth project will feature a mix of apartments and townhomes, including affordable units available to local residents with low-to-moderate incomes. Plans call for a close-knit community that adds a significant number of new units, incorporates sustainable design features, preserves the existing landscape and enhances the surrounding neighborhood.

Construction at the Merwick site will begin in April. The previous Merwick Care Center rehabilitation facility was demolished last year to make way for 128 new units contained within two-story townhomes, two-story multi-family stacked flat homes and three-story apartment buildings. The new Merwick complex is scheduled to open in summer 2014.

Work at Stanworth is expected to follow the completion of the Merwick complex. It will include redeveloping 198 units contained within two-story townhomes and two-story multi-family stacked flat homes.

The current 154 units at Stanworth — which had served as faculty and staff housing for more than 60 years — will be demolished and the new structures will be built within the footprints of the old apartments in order to preserve as many trees as possible.

Stanworth is currently being used as short-term housing for graduate students until the new Lakeside Graduate Housing opens. Faculty and staff occupancy of Stanworth is scheduled to begin in fall 2015.

In keeping with the municipality of Princeton's 20 percent affordable housing requirement connected with new residential building projects, apartments for low- and moderate-income families will be incorporated throughout Merwick and Stanworth. The units will be available to the general public, with no preference for applicants who may be affiliated with the University.

The Merwick-Stanworth project is part of the University's ongoing Housing Master Plan to augment housing programs for faculty, staff and graduate students, as well as the Campus Plan, which guides campus development through 2016.